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Japanese Box Office, March 10-11

Doraemon: Nobita to Kiseki no Shima ~Animal Adventure~, this year's Doraemon film, stayed at No. 1 during its second weekend. The story takes the robot cat Doraemon, his owner Nobita, and their friends to an island paradise full of animals that would have otherwise gone extinct. The film guest stars Nana Mizuki, Kouichi Yamadera, Masako Nozawa, and Atsuko Tanaka. The film earned US$5,305,991 on 359 screens for a gross-to-date of US$13,174,442.

The manga-based Liar Game: Reborn (Liar Game -Saisei-) live-action film fell from No. 2 to No. 3 during its second weekend. Shota Matsuda (Hana Yori Dango [2005]) reprises his lead role as the genius Akiyama from Shinobu Kaitani's Liar Game psychological thriller manga. Mikako Tabe (Kimi ni Todoke) plays the heroine Yū in a new game, while Mana Ashida (Usagi Drop/Bunny Drop) goes against typecasting as Alice, a member of the Liar Game organization. The film earned US$3,276,786 on 318 screens for a new total of US$10,731,242.

Always: Sunset on Third Street '64, the third live-action film based on Ryohei Saigan's nostalgic San-chōme no Yūhi - Yūyake no Uta manga directed by Takashi Yamazaki (live-action Space Battleship Yamato, Returner, Ballad) fell from No. 7 to No. 8 during its eighth weekend. The original manga, a 1990-1991 television anime series adaptation, and the first two live-action films followed the lives of people in a Tokyo neighborhood as the iconic Tokyo Tower rises above them. The film ranked at No. 9 on Box Office Mojo and earned US$408,098 on 473 screens for a gross-to-date total of US$40,223,131.

Takashi Miike's live-action adaptation of Capcom's Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney (Gyakuten Saiban) video game franchise fell from No. 12 to No. 14 in its fifth weekend. The film takes place in a parallel Japan, where a large increase in harsh crimes has led to a new court system. Under this new system, the defense attorney and public prosecutor have three days to battle cases out in open court to determine guilt or innocence of the accused, placing priority on speed instead of thorough investigation. The film earned US$189,019 on 275 screens for a new total of US$6,145,395.

The live-action film adaptation of Masaharu Noritsuke's Afro Tanaka comedy manga fell from No. 13 to No. 15 during its fourth weekend. Shota Matsuda (Liar Game, Hana Yori Dango [2005]) stars as an odd, Afro-haired young man named Hiroshi Tanaka who faces his greatest challenge at the age of 24: his first potential girlfriend (live-action Sazae-san special and Kaitō Royale's Nozomi Sasaki). The film earned US$121,619 on 72 screens for a new total of US$1,872,727.

The live-action film adaptation of Hikaru Nakamura's Arakawa Under the Bridge manga fell from No. 16 to No. 18 in its sixth weekend. In the story, an upper-class young man named Ko "Riku" Ichinomiya (Kento Hayashi) meets a beautiful homeless girl named Nino (Mirei Kiritani) from the banks of Arakawa River, where many of Tokyo's most unusual denizens live. The film earned US$17,145 on 24 screens for a new total of US$3,301,814.

Travel back in time (and maybe have your gender swapped) to seven different periods of Japanese history, all from the comfort of your couch.― The history of Japanese civilization is expansive, predating the Common Era by 10,000 years (the Jomon period). There's much more ground to cover compared to what kids get in U.S. history classes in high school, which rarely cover anything before the Boston T...

Junji Ito's death-stench horror gets the deluxe treatment with a new hardcover omnibus, but the subject matter might not work for everyone.― Junji Ito is inarguably one of the masters of horror manga, utilizing both horror (physical revulsion) and terror (psychological reaction) to create gut-churning tales of the world gone mad. To a degree, he carries this out in his two-volume series Gyo from 200...

Voice actor/director/professional Dungeons & Dragons player Liam O'Brien returns to the podcast after a 5-year hiatus to discuss his roles in Fate/Zero and Sailor Moon, along with the landscape for anime voice acting now and what it's like to be Gollum.― ANNCast Episode 234: Podcastoes O'Brien Get the Flash Player to see this player. Voice actor/director/professional Dungeons & Dragons player Liam ...

If you went to an anime convention this summer or have used the internet lately, you may notice anime fans seem to have fallen in love with Steven Universe. Why? Because the show loves them right back.― If you've been to an anime convention in the past year, you've probably seen colorful, gem-studded cosplay like this filling the hallways. Photo credit links: top left, top right, bottom left, bottom...

If you've got questions for the director of the high-flying fantasy series The Pilot's Love Song, we've potentially got answers for you!― We've been given the opportunity to interview The Pilot's Love Song director Toshimasa Suzuki, and we need your help! NISA, who will be releasing the fantasy action drama The Pilot's Love Song on bluray September 22nd, asked for fan questions for Mr. Suzuki, whos...

Bee-Train's 2001 girls-with-guns classic returns on Blu-Ray, and holds up surprisingly well, despite some mediocre animation.― Not all older series deserve the Blu-Ray treatment. For some it is because the show just isn't as iconic as people might like to think, while for others it's because the quality was never BD worthy in the first place. Noir, fortunately, does hold up well enough that its tran...

Egypt Arc is JoJo in peak condition, as memorable and engaging an adventure as you could hope for. JoJo's Bizarre Adventure is back.― When we last left our heroes, they'd just arrived on the shores of Egypt, escaping the literal jaws of defeat in order to finally save Jotaro's mother. The journey there had been a lengthy and sometimes inconsistent one, with their various adventures indeed being plen...

The creator of the hit manga, recently adapted into a popular anime series, talks about her inspirations, how she got her start, and what it's like to watch your manga become a TV show.― As you might guess from the story, the main character of the story is a high school roughneck named Ryu Yamada. Yamada meets cute, quiet, and studious Urara Shiraishi, who is his complete opposite in almost every wa...